I like the Tanabe Concept G exhaust. It's very well made and has a smooth, deep tone. However, it's much louder than I wanted at anything above idle. I notice lots of people either pointing and laughing or yelling "riiicerrrr". Maybe this is just life driving an older, rusty Civic. The Megan header was $130. The Tanabe exhaust was $600 and is now discontinued.
2000 CX Hatchback Beater Revival
- Thread starter RestoRoc89
- Start date
Does that system not include a catalytic? Adding one, even if its high flow, would greatly improve/reduce the loud sound. Clean subtle Civics tend not to be ridiculed so that cat could be the solution.
You're right--the system does not include a catalytic converter since I bolted an EX header up to a CX catback. I would have to cut the intermediate pipe and weld a cat to it, which I don't really want to do since it fits so perfectly and is constructed so nicely. It would certainly quiet things down a little bit. The car isn't really all that loud--my corvette is much, much louder--but it's more than I was hoping for. I'm already used to it.
It's aptly called a beater, that's for sure! But that's what I wanted--I have nice vehicles to keep nice. It seems like any Civic more than ten years old is Swiss cheese around here. Someday, I may move south.
This Civic should not sound even remotely. As loud as any Corvette. If it does, Id heavy support adding a catalytic. If youre use to it and OK with the sound then thats all that matters. Wuth the quality of other cars you own, Im inclined to believe you kbow what good sound is.
Hi Everyone, just wanted to post an update. I've done absolutely nothing to my beater over the last two years except change the oil and drive it. Living out in the country with a secure shop, theft isn't a concern anymore. However, the car still makes for an entertaining, cheap commuter. I've put 40,000 trouble-free km on it since the overhaul. I'm starting to think that I might want to repair the rust/replace the front end panels and paint the car simply because I like it....unless, of course, anyone has a lead on a totally rust free shell I could swap the parts into...
I've got some catching up to do here. Adding two kids and new career pursuits into the family mix has put a damper on the wrench-turning time. I've generally made repairs to the beater as necessary and continue to drive it in fair weather because it makes my longish commute affordable. The first repair I've had to do in a while was to replace the blower motor (mine started shrieking and occasionally binding up). Some contortionist acts in the passenger side footwell, three bolts and it's a relatively simple replacement.
Here's the old, dying part nearly removed.
Here's the new TYC replacement (cheap) waiting for its new home, courtesy of Rock Auto.
Finally, here's a blurry interpretation of how it looks all buttoned up under the dash (bad lighting - sorry).
Here's the old, dying part nearly removed.
Here's the new TYC replacement (cheap) waiting for its new home, courtesy of Rock Auto.
Finally, here's a blurry interpretation of how it looks all buttoned up under the dash (bad lighting - sorry).
Up next, I spent a little time degreasing the SI transaxle I bought to put in the car four years ago. Now it's on the workbench, one step closer to getting rebuilt with carbon kevlar synchros ...
As a means of frivolous entertainment, I found a silly deal on a Momo Tuner 350mm steering wheel and adapter hub while cruising Amazon on Prime day. Clearly, my beater needed a steering wheel upgrade ...
Here's the wheel in it's fresh-out-of-the-package glory.
With the battery disconnected and the airbag removed, I dusted off my steering wheel puller to remove the factory steering wheel.
Here's the steering wheel and the clock spring out of the way. Some trickery is required to prevent the airbag light from persistently appearing and to allow the Momo horn button to work. The metal terminal bracket in the lower right was useful for this second purpose.
I was able to bend it to make contact with the brass slip ring on the Momo adapter hub (this is what allows the horn button to work).
Here's the wiring wizardry that was required. I cut off the yellow airbag connector and soldered a resistor between the wires to simulate the airbag load. This prevents the airbag light from coming on. It's important that you do this before ever turning the ignition on while the air bag is disconnected, or you will get a permanent airbag fault. I can't remember the resistor value, but I'm sure other threads here can tell you what to use. I added some heat shrink tubing to reinforce the joint and prevent grounding it out against adjacent metal parts. I added a spade connector to the horn wire and hooked it up to the bent bracket I showed in the previous photo.
Here's the completed installation. I much prefer the feel of the thick leather grip and the smaller diameter gives the effect of speeding up the steering ratio. One downside is that the Momo wheel is MUCH lighter than the factory wheel. It doesn't dampen vibration and road feedback nearly as much. I would say it gives a little more feedback than I would like, but there is no going back now. I will also say that the way Momo has used multiple pieces of leather to cover the wheel and simply glued (not stitched) the overlaps feels a bit cheap. I'm sure it will peel away and have to be reglued in a few years. If the car and I make it that far, I'll get it professionally re-wrapped.
Gratuitous night shot.
Even though this car is a rusty embarrassment, I still get a lot of satisfaction from driving it.
Here's the wheel in it's fresh-out-of-the-package glory.
With the battery disconnected and the airbag removed, I dusted off my steering wheel puller to remove the factory steering wheel.
Here's the steering wheel and the clock spring out of the way. Some trickery is required to prevent the airbag light from persistently appearing and to allow the Momo horn button to work. The metal terminal bracket in the lower right was useful for this second purpose.
I was able to bend it to make contact with the brass slip ring on the Momo adapter hub (this is what allows the horn button to work).
Here's the wiring wizardry that was required. I cut off the yellow airbag connector and soldered a resistor between the wires to simulate the airbag load. This prevents the airbag light from coming on. It's important that you do this before ever turning the ignition on while the air bag is disconnected, or you will get a permanent airbag fault. I can't remember the resistor value, but I'm sure other threads here can tell you what to use. I added some heat shrink tubing to reinforce the joint and prevent grounding it out against adjacent metal parts. I added a spade connector to the horn wire and hooked it up to the bent bracket I showed in the previous photo.
Here's the completed installation. I much prefer the feel of the thick leather grip and the smaller diameter gives the effect of speeding up the steering ratio. One downside is that the Momo wheel is MUCH lighter than the factory wheel. It doesn't dampen vibration and road feedback nearly as much. I would say it gives a little more feedback than I would like, but there is no going back now. I will also say that the way Momo has used multiple pieces of leather to cover the wheel and simply glued (not stitched) the overlaps feels a bit cheap. I'm sure it will peel away and have to be reglued in a few years. If the car and I make it that far, I'll get it professionally re-wrapped.
Gratuitous night shot.
Even though this car is a rusty embarrassment, I still get a lot of satisfaction from driving it.
For the final update (for now), I picked up a civic EX parts car. I was able to drive it home, but, as you can see, it looks disgusting. Literally every panel was dented in some way.
There were a number of reasons I bought this beauty (which my daughter aptly named the "Potato" ... if I didn't mention it earlier, we affectionately call the red beater the "Tomato"). Firstly, I added EX front lower control arms to my beater when I did the suspension refresh (to have front sway bar mounting provisions), but hadn't gotten around to actually installing a front sway bar yet. The potato offered a factory front sway bar that I could scavenge. Secondly, I have always wanted air conditioning in the beater. Research told me it was a plug and play affair and the Potato had working AC. Finally, you've seen the gaping holes in my beater's hood. I figured the non-rusty hood from the Potato, with a couple coats of black PlastiDip, would be better than the current state.
Starting with the easy job, I yanked the sway bar out of the parts car.
The mounting hardware was hopelessly deteriorated, so I picked up some energy suspension urethane bushings, end links and some new hardened mounting bolts from the local fastener store.
I ground the rust off of the old sway bar with a die grinder/scotch brite pad combo and brushed on a few coats of POR15 paint. Note that I only did this because I had paint left over from a BMW chassis restoration project. Historically, the beater doesn't get any cosmetic treatment.
To actually mount the sway bar in my CX chassis, I needed to re-tap the unused threads for the bushing clamps. Rust had long since obscured the threads.
Here's the new bar snuck up into place. This required undoing the exhaust-to-downpipe connection and disconnecting the shift linkage (said a few swears over that job). Apparently, I was too lazy to take a photo of the completed installation. Pretty simple stuff.
The old girl is starting to get pretty rusty. New fuel lines are on the docket for this year. I think I will try one of the braided hose kits from Ebay, as they look quite simple to install. The body is beyond saving at this point, so I am always on the lookout for a rust-free car that I can swap all the fun/new parts over to. If anyone has a lead on such a thing, particularly a rolling chassis, let me know! I've got a truck and car hauler now ...
In terms of driving impressions - the car badly needed this sway bar. It's stays much flatter in turns now and the steering feels more solid. I still need to add a rear sway bar, though. Probably an ASR or a Whiteline kit. It's very unbalanced towards understeer at the moment.
There were a number of reasons I bought this beauty (which my daughter aptly named the "Potato" ... if I didn't mention it earlier, we affectionately call the red beater the "Tomato"). Firstly, I added EX front lower control arms to my beater when I did the suspension refresh (to have front sway bar mounting provisions), but hadn't gotten around to actually installing a front sway bar yet. The potato offered a factory front sway bar that I could scavenge. Secondly, I have always wanted air conditioning in the beater. Research told me it was a plug and play affair and the Potato had working AC. Finally, you've seen the gaping holes in my beater's hood. I figured the non-rusty hood from the Potato, with a couple coats of black PlastiDip, would be better than the current state.
Starting with the easy job, I yanked the sway bar out of the parts car.
The mounting hardware was hopelessly deteriorated, so I picked up some energy suspension urethane bushings, end links and some new hardened mounting bolts from the local fastener store.
I ground the rust off of the old sway bar with a die grinder/scotch brite pad combo and brushed on a few coats of POR15 paint. Note that I only did this because I had paint left over from a BMW chassis restoration project. Historically, the beater doesn't get any cosmetic treatment.
To actually mount the sway bar in my CX chassis, I needed to re-tap the unused threads for the bushing clamps. Rust had long since obscured the threads.
Here's the new bar snuck up into place. This required undoing the exhaust-to-downpipe connection and disconnecting the shift linkage (said a few swears over that job). Apparently, I was too lazy to take a photo of the completed installation. Pretty simple stuff.
The old girl is starting to get pretty rusty. New fuel lines are on the docket for this year. I think I will try one of the braided hose kits from Ebay, as they look quite simple to install. The body is beyond saving at this point, so I am always on the lookout for a rust-free car that I can swap all the fun/new parts over to. If anyone has a lead on such a thing, particularly a rolling chassis, let me know! I've got a truck and car hauler now ...
In terms of driving impressions - the car badly needed this sway bar. It's stays much flatter in turns now and the steering feels more solid. I still need to add a rear sway bar, though. Probably an ASR or a Whiteline kit. It's very unbalanced towards understeer at the moment.
Carrying on with the parts scavenging, I removed the engine to rebuild for fun (thinking of trying an NA build with high-compression pistons, a crower cam, some head porting, tuning with Hondata, etc). This seems crazy when engine swaps are so simple, but I'll have the rebuilt SI transmission, the Skunk2 shifter that I really enjoy, the stainless header and exhaust ... want to add a little more pep but keep using the performance parts I have already purchased.
And this is what the complete AC system looks like when removed from the car, including sub harness and relays/fuses. It was very easy to remove (possibly aided by the fact that I had the engine out already). I will replace some items (the compressor, Drier, expansion valve, condenser, all o-rings and maybe the condenser fan) and toss the parts in the beater soon. Or maybe I will just do the o-rings and see what happens. The system DID work before I removed it. Give the cost of a pressure test and recharge, I want to be certain it will work without issue the first time.
Having gotten what I wanted from it, here's the parts car ready to go on to its next abuser.
So long, old friend!
And this is what the complete AC system looks like when removed from the car, including sub harness and relays/fuses. It was very easy to remove (possibly aided by the fact that I had the engine out already). I will replace some items (the compressor, Drier, expansion valve, condenser, all o-rings and maybe the condenser fan) and toss the parts in the beater soon. Or maybe I will just do the o-rings and see what happens. The system DID work before I removed it. Give the cost of a pressure test and recharge, I want to be certain it will work without issue the first time.
Having gotten what I wanted from it, here's the parts car ready to go on to its next abuser.
So long, old friend!
@RestoRoc89 Sweet write up man! I like your attention to detail with the steering wheel wiring. Most people just throw some wire on there and don't even consider heat shrink and spade connectors. Nice work!
juanmbenavente
New Member
I replace the ignition lock assembly, but no work. The dashboard light not work, and no start, no crank
The ol' beater got a bit of love over the summer this year. I'm quite actively searching for a clean chassis to swap all the good parts over to, but am also committed to keeping the thing running in the meantime. To start the year off, I needed to replace the left front wheel bearing. I noticed my brakes randomly shrieking while turning in parking lots, did the vertical wiggle test and found some play in the left front wheel. This frustrates me because I installed new Koyo bearings during the initial overhaul in 2015. Sad that I'm already hitting the point of replacing parts twice. The bearing did have about 90,000km on it, so it's past the point of being a maintenance quality issue (aka my fault). Since I didn't need to touch any of the suspension parts this time around, I opted to do an on-car replacement of the bearing vs. removing the knuckle and using my shop press. A big slide hammer and a FWD wheel bearing installer kit helped here.
Here's everything knocked apart (with a look at the various tools in play).
Now I'm using the bearing installer to press the new bearing in. Admittedly, I used a cheap bearing from the local part source store. I ordered an expensive SKF from NAPA, and they sent me the larger bearing that suits a Civic EX with ABS. I started the job, needed to finish it and used what I could find locally. I full expect to redo this job again soon with better parts. Might as well roll the dice and see what happens for now.
For what it's worth, this is the part that DOES NOT fit a base Civic CX.
Here's the job all buttoned up. The bearing was loose long enough that my rotor is no longer flat. The brakes don't pulse, but I get a tiny bit of cyclic scrubbing that I can hear at low speed. I didn't drive the car a ton this spring, but it will get new pads and rotors in the spring. I hate it when one part failure takes out another relatively new part.
After this repair, the car drove well and I thought I was set for the season. Of course, I thought wrong ... to be continued.
Here's everything knocked apart (with a look at the various tools in play).
Now I'm using the bearing installer to press the new bearing in. Admittedly, I used a cheap bearing from the local part source store. I ordered an expensive SKF from NAPA, and they sent me the larger bearing that suits a Civic EX with ABS. I started the job, needed to finish it and used what I could find locally. I full expect to redo this job again soon with better parts. Might as well roll the dice and see what happens for now.
For what it's worth, this is the part that DOES NOT fit a base Civic CX.
Here's the job all buttoned up. The bearing was loose long enough that my rotor is no longer flat. The brakes don't pulse, but I get a tiny bit of cyclic scrubbing that I can hear at low speed. I didn't drive the car a ton this spring, but it will get new pads and rotors in the spring. I hate it when one part failure takes out another relatively new part.
After this repair, the car drove well and I thought I was set for the season. Of course, I thought wrong ... to be continued.
After a quick test drive, I popped the hood and noticed some coolant pooling on top of the radiator. It didn't take long to realize that the plastic header tank on my original circa 2000 radiator had cracked. I can't really blame the part for that, but it kicked off a string of deferred maintenance. Prior to the radiator failure, I already was putting off addressing loose motor mounts, a few oil leaks, a deferred timing belt replacement and a distributor cap (I bought a replacement cap in 2015, but never touched it because the tiny bolts were very rusty ... it will later turn out that I was justified in not touching the cap...). The motor mounts were factory original and the timing belt was last done nearly 300,000km ago. Upon inspection, I found the mid gasket in my 4-2-1 header had also blown out and was leaking. I think the loose motor mounts had a lot to do with this round of issues finally surfacing. So I hopped on the good ol' internet and ordered some parts, including:
- CSF radiator
- Spectra radiator fan assembly
- Gates upper and lower coolant hoses
- Stant thermostat
- Fel Pro thermostat gasket
- Stant radiator cap
- Fel Pro valve cover gasket
- Mahle distributor O-ring
- Continental timing belt kit w/ water pump & cam seal
- Spectra oil pan
- Fel Pro oil pan gasket
- 1320 Motorsports billet upper motor mounts (68A street application)
- Remflex header gasket
- Walker exhaust donut gasket (for lower header connection)
- Honda spec coolant
- DEA/Marmon lower engine mounts
- Wix oil and air filters
I decided to do some general disassembly to gain more work space and tackle the timing belt first. Step 1: drown everything in Liquid Wrench.
Step 2: remove rad assembly, splash shield, valve cover, etc etc. The first adventure in rust was snapping the single bolt that clamps the radiator assembly down. We'll deal with that later.
Step 4: remove left upper motor mount, timing covers and (because I felt like snapping more bolts at this point) the distributor cap.
At this point, I started disassembling the front of the motor as much as I could. Removing things like the cam gear, water pump, timing belt, belt tensioner, etc. I found the ancient timing belt to be in very good condition. The water pump bearings were starting to get unhealthy. The biggest disappointment was that I found my alternator to be nearly seized, so I ordered up a reman alternator from NAPA.
Special note that getting the crank pulley off was terrible. The bolt was SO tight and rusted in place. The last tech who working on the timing belt must have put the crank pulley back on with an impact gun. I had to get the pulley holding tool, upgrade my air line to 1/2-in and get a 1,400lb-ft capable impact gun to break the crank bolt free.
Because new parts are the most fun thing to look at, here's the replacement alternator.
UPDATE: figured I ought to finish off this post.
New cam and crank seals installed.
Timing cover cleaned up and starting to reassemble the front of the motor.
I had to drill out and re-tap one of the threaded holes tin the distributor housing because I like snapping bolts so much.
This allowed me to install the new distributor cap that I've had sitting on the shelf since 2015. I also replaced the o-ring seal on the back of the distributor ... which was most definitely leaking.
New motor and torque mounts on the front of the motor.
Replacing the rear motor mount that bolts to the top of the k-member was ... AWFUL. Many swears were invented doing this. I'm glad it's done.
Since I was installing a new radiator and hoses, I figured I should sneak in a new thermostat as well. So glad the thermostat housing bolts didn't snap.
For good measure, I tossed in a new fuel filter.
Some nice, curly chips were made fixing my radiator mount whoops (another snapped bolt).
Speaking of which, here is the new radiator and fan assembly waiting patiently to go in. I don't love that the aftermarket fan shroud is plastic, but it seems stout enough and at least it won't rust. Because I'm clearly so concerned about rust here ... my new CSF rad has a transmission oil cooler section. Since my car has a manual transmission, I didn't use this and just left the ports open.
Here is a collection of photos related to resealing the valve cover and replacing the oil pan.
After a few solid days of work, here are some shots of the finished product. The ol' beater is definitely still scruffy, but the motor mounts and the timing belt have been on my mind for quite a while and I'm glad to have them dealt with. It's very nice having all the sludge cleaned off the motor, too!
To report on outcomes, I'm very glad that I did the extra work to reseal the motor. Three years after finishing this batch of work, I can say that the motor is still bone dry with no leaks anywhere. The cooling system refresh has been working very well.
But let's talk about the 1320 polyurethane motor mounts. They fit up well and have been rock solid. I have no quality complaints. However, going back to the point about them being rock solid ...I very much don't recommend them in a commuter car (or any car, really). To minimize vibration, I chose the softest urethane option. The car still shakes like crazy at idle. These little 4cyl engines are far too rough to be hard mounted like this. I wish I had spent the extra money on some factory honda rubber mounts for my application. Because my car is such a rusty beater, I am now chasing panel rattles at idle and it sometimes leaves rust dust on the parking lot if I idle in one spot for too long. The end result of installing these mounts is quite extreme. There are some upsides though. I originally wanted to replace my motor mounts because the motor was rocking enough to cause the shifter to bind occasionally. With these new mounts, the shifter is beautifully precise. Another plus is that the car feels very smooth at any engine speed above idle. In motion, it's a pleasure to drive. At a standstill, it flat out sucks. My goal was to choose a set of motor mounts that would be durable and that didn't cost $500+ like a set of OEM mounts would. I think I got what I was looking for with these parts from 1320. Were I to do this again, I would look at either OEM mounts or maybe the Hardrace rubber mounts.
It's hard to believe that I've been driving this car for 8 years now. It is a bit of a rolling joke, but I can honestly say that it is so much fun. The driving experience is so analog, it's generally quite easy to work on and it's wonderfully fuel efficient. It has no right to still be alive and yet here we are.
Step 2: remove rad assembly, splash shield, valve cover, etc etc. The first adventure in rust was snapping the single bolt that clamps the radiator assembly down. We'll deal with that later.
Step 4: remove left upper motor mount, timing covers and (because I felt like snapping more bolts at this point) the distributor cap.
At this point, I started disassembling the front of the motor as much as I could. Removing things like the cam gear, water pump, timing belt, belt tensioner, etc. I found the ancient timing belt to be in very good condition. The water pump bearings were starting to get unhealthy. The biggest disappointment was that I found my alternator to be nearly seized, so I ordered up a reman alternator from NAPA.
Special note that getting the crank pulley off was terrible. The bolt was SO tight and rusted in place. The last tech who working on the timing belt must have put the crank pulley back on with an impact gun. I had to get the pulley holding tool, upgrade my air line to 1/2-in and get a 1,400lb-ft capable impact gun to break the crank bolt free.
Because new parts are the most fun thing to look at, here's the replacement alternator.
UPDATE: figured I ought to finish off this post.
New cam and crank seals installed.
Timing cover cleaned up and starting to reassemble the front of the motor.
I had to drill out and re-tap one of the threaded holes tin the distributor housing because I like snapping bolts so much.
This allowed me to install the new distributor cap that I've had sitting on the shelf since 2015. I also replaced the o-ring seal on the back of the distributor ... which was most definitely leaking.
New motor and torque mounts on the front of the motor.
Replacing the rear motor mount that bolts to the top of the k-member was ... AWFUL. Many swears were invented doing this. I'm glad it's done.
Since I was installing a new radiator and hoses, I figured I should sneak in a new thermostat as well. So glad the thermostat housing bolts didn't snap.
For good measure, I tossed in a new fuel filter.
Some nice, curly chips were made fixing my radiator mount whoops (another snapped bolt).
Speaking of which, here is the new radiator and fan assembly waiting patiently to go in. I don't love that the aftermarket fan shroud is plastic, but it seems stout enough and at least it won't rust. Because I'm clearly so concerned about rust here ... my new CSF rad has a transmission oil cooler section. Since my car has a manual transmission, I didn't use this and just left the ports open.
Here is a collection of photos related to resealing the valve cover and replacing the oil pan.
After a few solid days of work, here are some shots of the finished product. The ol' beater is definitely still scruffy, but the motor mounts and the timing belt have been on my mind for quite a while and I'm glad to have them dealt with. It's very nice having all the sludge cleaned off the motor, too!
To report on outcomes, I'm very glad that I did the extra work to reseal the motor. Three years after finishing this batch of work, I can say that the motor is still bone dry with no leaks anywhere. The cooling system refresh has been working very well.
But let's talk about the 1320 polyurethane motor mounts. They fit up well and have been rock solid. I have no quality complaints. However, going back to the point about them being rock solid ...I very much don't recommend them in a commuter car (or any car, really). To minimize vibration, I chose the softest urethane option. The car still shakes like crazy at idle. These little 4cyl engines are far too rough to be hard mounted like this. I wish I had spent the extra money on some factory honda rubber mounts for my application. Because my car is such a rusty beater, I am now chasing panel rattles at idle and it sometimes leaves rust dust on the parking lot if I idle in one spot for too long. The end result of installing these mounts is quite extreme. There are some upsides though. I originally wanted to replace my motor mounts because the motor was rocking enough to cause the shifter to bind occasionally. With these new mounts, the shifter is beautifully precise. Another plus is that the car feels very smooth at any engine speed above idle. In motion, it's a pleasure to drive. At a standstill, it flat out sucks. My goal was to choose a set of motor mounts that would be durable and that didn't cost $500+ like a set of OEM mounts would. I think I got what I was looking for with these parts from 1320. Were I to do this again, I would look at either OEM mounts or maybe the Hardrace rubber mounts.
It's hard to believe that I've been driving this car for 8 years now. It is a bit of a rolling joke, but I can honestly say that it is so much fun. The driving experience is so analog, it's generally quite easy to work on and it's wonderfully fuel efficient. It has no right to still be alive and yet here we are.
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The beater lives on! I see that I need to finish my post about the timing belt / motor mounts / engine reseal (post updates now complete) … since then, I’ve also installed new belt moldings, taillight seals, replaced the master cylinder … but the big news is … the beater has air conditioning!
Here’s the starting point with a spacious engine bay:
And here are some shots of the job in progress:
Surprisingly, the hardest part of the job was removing the tragically-corroded bolts that secure the battery tray. It required torching, air hammering and pounding on an undersized socket (plus saying prayers before squeezing the trigger on the impact gun). I evacuated and charged the system myself. It works great with vent temps in the 42F ballpark. The evaporator housing, switch, wire harness, belt drive and all the plumbing was harvested from the beige parts car I bought years ago. To finish the job, I added in a new compressor, condenser, RD bottle, expansion valve, condenser fan and o-rings throughout. I like the uniqueness of the base, manual steering CX with added air conditioning.
Here’s the starting point with a spacious engine bay:
And here are some shots of the job in progress:
Surprisingly, the hardest part of the job was removing the tragically-corroded bolts that secure the battery tray. It required torching, air hammering and pounding on an undersized socket (plus saying prayers before squeezing the trigger on the impact gun). I evacuated and charged the system myself. It works great with vent temps in the 42F ballpark. The evaporator housing, switch, wire harness, belt drive and all the plumbing was harvested from the beige parts car I bought years ago. To finish the job, I added in a new compressor, condenser, RD bottle, expansion valve, condenser fan and o-rings throughout. I like the uniqueness of the base, manual steering CX with added air conditioning.
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Here's a nice little piece of nearly-instant gratification - new OEM Honda belt moldings. My doors were becoming a significant source of water ingress in the rain and the original moldings were completely smoked.
Here's an example of how the original moldings were looking rough:
And here are the new ones installed. The job was very easy, although I probably did spend more than the car is worth on the new parts from Honda.
Here's an example of how the original moldings were looking rough:
And here are the new ones installed. The job was very easy, although I probably did spend more than the car is worth on the new parts from Honda.
